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From the lake that’s an hour from your door to an exotic country halfway around the world, vacation options far exceed the number of vacations any one traveler can experience over a lifetime. Making a list of all the locations you hope to visit someday and prioritizing them will demonstrate clearly the difficulty of just how to narrow down to the best destination for those precious vacation hours.

Time Constraints

Obviously a weekend jaunt from the Midwest to a European capital is unrealistic, so considering time constraints is a necessity for most travelers. To narrow down your destination choice, try this simple formula: divide the number of hours you will spend traveling by the total number of vacation hours in order to come up with a percentage. For example, if it will take you, from your door, five hours to get to New York City (and the same to get back home), and you plan to spend four days in the city (96 hours), that means just less than 10 percent of your trip will be spent traveling. Decide whether or not the percentage you arrive at seems worth the trip. The travelmath.com calculator can help you estimate travel times.

Expense Issues

High on the list of considerations when deciding on a travel destination is the number of dollars stashed in the travel piggy bank. Starting with the amount you have to spend, “try out” a destination with a probable budget. Subtract transportation costs, whether for car, train, or plane, from your travel fund. Divide what’s left by the number of days you want to stay at your destination and determine if that amount will cover lodging, food, admissions and miscellaneous expenses. You might want to keep in mind that, according to Shelley Frost, writing for USA Today Travel Tips,“the smaller expenses add up quickly and can cause you to go over budget without planning.” So at this point, if the numbers don’t work out, you can either opt for a shorter stay or start the process over with a new destination.

Same Old or Something New

When a travel magazine whets your appetite for a place you’ve never visited, Barcelona, for example, but you long to return to Paris, a city you’ve visited several times, deciding between the two can be a tough call. You might consider alternating destinations between somewhere new and somewhere old from one vacation to the next. Consider alternating city vacations with adventure vacations. Fodor’s adventure guide lists questions that may help you narrow down the kind of adventure vacation you might enjoy. You might choose to get out the travel photos and simply take a trip down memory lane before jetting off to a brand-new location.

Travel Companions

Once you add even one travel companion, your choice of destination becomes more complicated; a spouse who hates the cold won’t want to spend a February weekend in Chicago, for example. Once a vacation becomes a family matter, it’s up to parents to make sure both they and the kids will enjoy the choice -- and that doesn’t always mean heading for a theme park. According to away.com, the top 10 family travel choices in the United States include, in addition to theme parks, Acadia National Park, Boston, the Grand Canyon, San Diego and Yellowstone National Park.

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About the Author

Peggy Epstein is a freelance writer specializing in education and parenting. She has authored two books, "Great Ideas for Grandkids" and "Family Writes," and published more than 100 articles for various print and online publications. Epstein is also a former public school teacher with 25 years' experience. She received a Master of Arts in curriculum and instruction from the University of Missouri.

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